Anyone know the history of 50 Games on 7 Disks?

[meles]

Not long after I got my CPC6128 for Christmas in 1990 my Dad purchased a pack of games from an advert in Amstrad Action. It was a collection of 50 games on 7 disks. The games were supposed to be on one side of the disks and the other side blank for you to use as you wanted. When the disks arrived there was a note with them saying something along the lines of 'Sorry but due to a miscalculation the games have taken up both sides'. I played these games a lot as I didn't have much else to begin with, and some of them were really good. After a while a few of the disks broke and some games wouldn't load anymore.

When I looked back in later years I thought this must have been dodgy and pirated software, as the cost was supposed to be not much different from buying blank disks. I tried to track down what this pack was and anything about it but couldn't find anything. As I started typing out this post, and trying to remember all the games on it I could, I tried searching once again by looking back through copies of Amstrad Action and finally I've found the advert. It's in issue 66 on page 31. The advert reads "7 Genuine AMSOFT CF2 3" disks including 50 free games". It goes on to say:

Each disk in this box of seven has one blank side for your own use. The other is stuffed with great games for your CPC 6128, previously only available on tape. (These disks were produced for Amstrad to be bundled with the CPC6128. But due to a cancelled order we can now make this exclusive offer.)

Does anyone know anything about this? Is what they say true about the cancelled order from Amstrad, or was that a ruse? Was this all genuine? Did anyone else buy these disks?

[zeropolis79]

Ah, yes, I've heard of them. Mastertronic got a comission from Amstrad to make some discs of their games to bundle with later 6128 bundles. Sadly the deal got cancelled. It would have been the 1988/1989 reissue of the CPCs as the names in that advert vary from 1985 - 1987. Intresting though, the Alex Higgins games were Amsoft in origin. 

AA would never allow unofficial discs to be sold via advets like this so it wouldn't surprise me if they checked up on it. 

[Johnny Olsen]

You can find the discs here

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&onglet=dumps&num=6360

[Nich]

Not long after I got my CPC6128 for Christmas in 1990 my Dad purchased a pack of games from an advert in Amstrad Action. It was a collection of 50 games on 7 disks.

Does anyone know anything about this? Is what they say true about the cancelled order from Amstrad, or was that a ruse? Was this all genuine? Did anyone else buy these disks?

I don't know anything about a supposed "cancelled order" (although @zeropolis79 has provided more details), but I persuaded my parents to buy the package for me because it included the Magic Knight games. I had a ZX Spectrum+ that had developed a terminal fault a few months previously and I had the first three Magic Knight games for it. I really missed not being able to play them, so getting this package was a great opportunity - and for only £14.99, each game cost the equivalent of only 30p!

Looking back, I thought most of the games were poor, but there were about 15 games out of 50 that I liked, so that still equates to £1 per 'good' game.

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

I got these as well, by surprise.

Loads of mastertronic games, some of which were good, and others ... perhaps dated a bit, or meh. The lack of game documentation didn't help for some (rasterscan in particular, bouncing around aimlessly)!

But 50 games back then was a treat!

[meles]

Ah, yes, I've heard of them. Mastertronic got a comission from Amstrad to make some discs of their games to bundle with later 6128 bundles. Sadly the deal got cancelled.

Thanks, it's nice to know more of the details. I'm still wondering about the one blank side though - if the disks had already all been made they'd have known there were no blanks sides. I wonder if it was just poor communication at some point, or a deliberate ploy to sell them?

You can find the discs here

Thanks. That's definitely the one. I remember the disks (no indication of what's on each disk!), the simple but colourful menus to select the game to load.

Yes, there weren't that many good games, though it was quite a varied selection. The ones I played most were (bare in mind I was generally rubbish at computer games!):

Knight Tyme - I never got very far on this (and being quite old I expect a walkthrough or hints never appeared in a copy of Amstrad Action I got) but absolutely loved it. This was probably my first introduction to science fiction!
180 - Played this a lot
Alex Higgins Snooker and Pool - Kept going back to these
Dr Destructo - Possibly played this the most, played lots of 2 player
Ball Crazy - Played this a lot as well

To be honest I don't think I played much on the other games, I expect there were quite a few I only tried once and it wouldn't surprise me if there were some I never even tried.

I was expecting a few other games to be in that list though, so these must have come with my second-hand CPC6128. These were (all on disk) Roland in Time, and a baseball game (I don't remember what it was called, but I can't see anything in the list of this compilation that would fit the bill).

[Nich]

I was expecting a few other games to be in that list though, so these must have come with my second-hand CPC6128. These were (all on disk) Roland in Time, and a baseball game (I don't remember what it was called, but I can't see anything in the list of this compilation that would fit the bill).

That was a different compilation, sometimes known as PP8. Here's the link to CPC-POWER:

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&num=3979

The baseball game was called World Series Baseball.

I have fond memories of this compilation as well. I didn't receive it with my CPC6128, but I had a cousin who lived many miles away who owned it. When my family went to visit my cousin (which would be about 3 or 4 times every year), my brothers and I would spend all the time playing some of the games from this compilation - mostly Doors of Doom, Tubaruba and World Series Baseball. I may have played Qabbalah as well, but that was mostly to admire the pretty graphics, since no one who played it really had a clue what they were supposed to do.

[meles]

Wow! Now this just opens more questions. 

I think you're right, this must have come with my CPC. I'd noticed the pack on the CPC-Power site when I searched for Roland In Time, but instantly dismissed it as I knew I didn't have the Trivial Pursuit and other board games. I can only assume that the previous owner lost / broke / sold the disks before I got it.

I only recognise Roland in Time from disk 1, I'll have to download the rest and see if they jog my memory.

From disk 2 there's the baseball game I remember, Tubaruba sounds familiar, and then there's Qabbalah. When I was writing a previous post of games I remembered from the pack I had one in mind that I just couldn't put in words, but from your description and seeing a screenshot I'm positive this is it!

The only other thing that seems slightly familiar from this pack is in the packaging photos I can see that Supertest Day 1 and Day 2 are the other way round on the disks to the cases. 

Time to fire up the emulator!